A Few Words on the Tie Front

A few of you asked in the comments for more details about the tie front top. It will be hard to show you without photos and I didn't take any along the way. But I'll try to explain it with just words.

I cut two strips selvedge-t0-selvedge, each 3" wide. I then sewed them with RS together at one short end and pinned the strip together with the seam allowance open. I didn't press with an iron only due to the pleats in the fabric. If there had been no pleating, I would've pressed the SA open.

Next, I folded the long strip in half lengthwise, WS together. (Again, I would've pressed it if this wasn't pleated fabric.)

I placed the joining seam of the strip at the CB of the top. I then pinned the strip around the neckline, stretching it as I went around so that the neckband would not flop over when finished. I don't have an exact method for this. I just do it by feel. It's between a 2/3 and 3/4 ratio of neckband to neckline.

I stopped pinning about 1" before the vee of the neckline.

I turned the unpinned tie strip sections (one for each side of the neckline) RS together and sewed them together along the bottom and long sides, stopping about 1" before where they'd meet the neckline. I sewed along the bottom edge diagonally so the ties would end in a point. I trimmed the corner seam allowances and used a tube turner to turn these parts of the ties RS out. I did it this way (with the neckband already pinned in place) because I was doing this "on the fly," not taking the time to take measurements, etc. I know one could do this in a less haphazard manner, but I was winging it.

Next, I clipped the vee of the neckline just up to the seam allowance. If you feel more comfortable with stay-stitching in this area, you should do that *before* you pin the tie to the neckline. I didn't staystitch.

I sewed the tie onto the neckline as I had it pinned, stretching as I sewed so that neckline and tie met up flat. (Remember, I left ease in the neckline when I was pinning.)

I stopped 1" before the vee on either side. You don't sew all the way to the point of the vee because you need some room for the knot you'll make when tying the ties.

The last step was to "finger press" the seam allowance toward the bodice and coverstitch around. (You can edgestitch with a single or double needle if you do not have a CS machine.) The seam allowances at the point were also "finger pressed" down and coverstitched. I just opened and sorta slid/folded the vee until it was in a straight line going under the foot as I used my CS machine, because you can't really pivot with twin needles. (Very much like you see here.)

The end result is that there is about 1" of the tie section below the vee of the neckline that isn't sewn together. This is OK because (1) it's a knit and does't ravel, and (2) tying the strips into a bow takes up that length and hides the opening. If this was a woven, I'd use Steam-a-Seam to close the opening.







* * * * *

From recent comments:
Mrs. Moos mentioned finding lime slinky at Joann's. Just thought I'd mention that mine came from Nancy's Notions and it's still in stock. Along with a bunch of other colors.

Carolyn was still plugging a navy or black suit. I don't wear either color. I *would* wear a brown suit but they're hard to find in RTW and I just don't have the fabric right now to make one. Really, if I had had enough of the either jacket fabric to make a skirt, I'd have a suit. But I didn't, so I'm going to just dazzle them with my well-coordinated outfits, resume/skills, and shining personality. LOL! Yeah, you can wipe off the keyboard now. But seriously, if this was NYC or Washington, D.C., I'd be more diligent about a suit. But it's Tampa, Florida. We're a bit less uptight here. ;-) Even on interviews. In fact, I'm guessing I'll actually be overdressed compared to most other interviewees.

Happy Mother's Day

Being a mother is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I love my wonderful sons so very much! But today will be a low-key Mother's Day for us as I really just want to be a homebody as long as possible before I'm out in the big, mean working world. ;-) We'll do a raincheck dinner on a less busy restaurant day and I'll enjoy it more then. But don't let that stop YOU! Best wishes for a wonderful day with your own moms and/or kids.

* * * * *

Yesterday I worked on a couple of pieces to coordinate with items already made. First up is my "Inspired by Carolyn" top. She's been sewing a few tie-neck shells and after seeing the first one, I was hooked and knew I'd be stealing borrowing the idea.



After sewing the skirt, I had just enough of the paisley print left to eek out a simple top. I used my TNT Ottobre Woman tee pattern, #5, the one with the the shaped vee neckband. Instead of using the neckband/facing, I cut two 3" strips selvedge-to-selvedge (yes, the pleats really run horizontally) and seamed them together at what would be the center back, and attached the tie to the neckband. There's a few more steps than that, of course, but the end result is a pretty top that's as comfortable as a tee without looking like it *is* a tee.



I left the bottom and sleeve edges unfinished. This fabric is a knit — with no stretch — and doesn't ravel. Hemming this stuff makes for a wavy edge (see the skirt) and while I love it for the skirt, I didn't want that for the top. It's a good thing too, because I didn't have enough fabric left to cut with a bottom hem allowance anyway.



Next up was another fast BWOF skirt (04/2008 #131) from the same lime slinky as the BWOF shirred-neckline top.







On the horizon will be a jacket from this fabric. I don't know what or when yet, and this won't be an interview jacket, but I'd like to have it for summer. The fabric goes with various greens and corals which are already clothes in my closet and to-be-made clothes waiting in the stash.



Speaking of Carolyn (Hi Carolyn!), she asked in a recent comment if I had at least one suit (i.e., matching top and bottom) for interviews. I don't. And I won't, because I just haven't been stashing fabric in long enough lengths for an entire suit. I could probably buy something (and have to alter it!) but I don't think it's necessary. Looking professional, yes. Looking like a banker, not here in Florida. Unless you're a banker. I do have plans to make a solid brown skirt to wear with the taupe jacket; however, it won't match the brown jacket, so more conservative but still no suit. I wish I had more of either fabric. From now on, I'll know to buy twice as much. LOL!

Tents Are for Camping

This is the white shirt I bought at Walmart a couple of weeks ago. I liked the fabric, the fit not so much. But it's actually pretty well made for a Walmart shirt so I brought it home to think about.

I never buy clothes thinking I can "fix" them, but I decided to just go ahead and fix this one today so I would actually wear it. I need a plain white shirt. Yes, I could make it myself but I don't have any white shirt fabric in the stash (really!) and, like I mentioned, I like *this* fabric. It's a very soft stretch cotton with a subtle woven-in stripe. It took a couple of hours, but that's still faster than making one from scratch. It turned out pretty well, so I'm glad I broke my own rule.

I put the shirt on and evaluated the changes I'd need. When I first brought it home I thought it fit (not great, but OK) in the shoulders and all I'd have to do was shorten sleeves and hem. I should've known better. No RTW fitted shirt ever fits me in the shoulder if it fits across my bust and butt. And the armhole is always too low. This one was no exception. Why I didn't see that at first, I don't know. But I'm stubborn so I couldn't let that stop me. ;-)

I started pinning. I made a tuck at the shoulder seam on the shoulder side, making no changes to the sleeve. I ripped out the top part of the armhole seam and pinned the sleeve further into the armhole to see how it was going to fit. It seemed like it was going to work great. So I basted it and tried it on again. The shoulders were still too wide. I ripped the first basting and tried it again deeper. This time, it looked good so I went ahead and marked a cutting line and then cut a big wedge out of the armhole.



This is what was cut out of the top 2/3 of the armhole. I could start ranting about RTW and pattern manufacturers and linebacker shoulders for women whose bones have not grown since high school. But I'll save that since I know I'd be preaching to the choir.



This is the sleeve pinned into the new armhole. I made no changes to the sleeve cap and sewed on its original stitching line. I pinned starting at each end and working my way to the middle in case I ended up with extra fabric to ease in, but I didn't.



Next it was time to deal with the droopy armhole. The sleeve circumference was also too big so I just sewed a deeper underarm and side seam, tapering to nothing at waist level. Doing this was like sewing the sleeve in flat and then sewing up the sideseam last, which is how the shirt was originally constructed. If it had been a set-in sleeve, I might have re-set it properly. Or maybe not. This is a Walmart shirt after all. ;-)



After serging the armhole and sideseams, I hemmed the sleeves shorter. If you look carefully at the photo above, you should be able to see that the original hem is not really a hem. It's a facing, topstitched and edgestitched. I didn't want to rip all that stitching so I was lazy and just turned the facing up once and then edgestitched and topstitched that.

Then the bottom hem. I cut off 1-1/2" and then pressed up a narrow double fold hem and topstitched that.

The last thing was to sew two more waist darts in the back. I figured I might as well do all the tweaks at this point, since I was on a roll. They look horrible here but Zillie has no butt. I do. The back fits me so much better with the darts. What you can't see are the original two waist darts. They are set very close to the sideseam. Why they are there, I have no idea. But I left them. With all the seaming and darts (there are 2 waist darts in the front too), what's another couple of darts.



So here it is again, Before …



… and After.



ETA: I forgot the best part. This sticker was on the front of the shirt when it was hanging on the rack.



Um, I think not. Unless you have a sewing machine. ;-)

Whirlwind Work Wardrobe

Wardrobe, so far …

Jacket-Kwik Sew 3368 with buttons finally, Top-Jalie 2794, and Skirt-Kwik Sew 3287



Skirt-BWOF 03-2004-138



Jacket-Simp 2899



Top-BWOF Plus 02-2008-404, with hem band added



Jacket buttoned



Experimenting with a scarf



Now it's time to get the resume out there, and sew some more while I wait for the calls to come pouring in. ;-) Oh, and buy pantyhose.

Jacket #2

The jacket is done. The only thing left is to cut open my buttonholes and give the whole thing a good pressing. Right now the jacket is pinned together, crooked, and left over right.

Something didn't turn out right with the collar. I don't know yet whether it was me or the pattern. It's supposed to meet closer together, but it doesn't. I used a straight size 18 neckhole and collar pieces with no changes (well, except to divide the undercollar in 2, add a seam allowance, and cut the pieces on the bias). The two neck edges should've fit together as designed but they didn't, which I didn't notice until it was too late.

And while the look of the collar on the envelope was one of my favorite things about this jacket, what I ended up with doesn't look bad and in reality, I'll probably wear it more like this anyway:



So, I won't stress about it, and I'll make a note for next time. At least I remembered to hand sew on the top button so there is no thread showing on the wrong side. Thankfully the brain was in gear today.

Here's the lining. My first *fully* lined jacket, sleeves and everything. All done by machine. The fiddly bit at the join of the facing and collar went much, much smoother this time. And now this blue fabric is out of the stash. It's definitely one of those "What was I thinking?" pieces. I bought it about 5-6 years ago, back when I first started sewing. It's been taking up stash space for a long time.



While at Joann's for buttons this morning, I flipped through the Butterick pattern catalog to look at two of the suggestions for copying my RTW dress (5206 and 4976), and instead came home with 5001.



All similar patterns I've looked at will need some sort of modification, but I think B5001 will need the least changes. The Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Cosmopolitan dress was tempting after seeing all the various makes of it on PatternReview and blogs, but I decided against that one too.

My actual dress is very similar to B5001, with the shirred outer wrap.


As you can see by the pattern pieces, cutting a separate contrast waistband from the skirt pieces will be easy. And this pattern is already a plus size pattern so it should start with a little extra room in the bust area. I'm hoping the knit I use will account for the remainder needed. We'll see. Making this dress isn't near the top of the list yet, so it will be a while since I'll soon be sewing around a job.



Parting Shot: What my sewing table looks like after I finish a project. Those are various muslins wadded up in the foreground. Two for the dress I'll get back to and one for the latest jacket, and probably another I'm forgetting. Time to straighten up and begin the next project.

Jacket Update

There has been progress, but I didn't finish yesterday like I was hoping. Maybe by tonight, since all that's left is to sew on the collar, the sleeve cuffs, and sew in the lining. And press the heck out of it. ;-) Oh, and buttons. Hmmm. Here we go again with the buttons.

I had originally thought that I wouldn't line this jacket but realized I wouldn't save any time because I'd have to draft a back neck facing and redraft the front facings to join up with it. And I had already cut the front facings. So, lined it will be. That's the lining fabric sticking out of the pocket. It's basically blue and I don't wear much blue, but I'm trying to use up stash.

I wasted a lot of time yesterday. I had originally thought that I wanted to topstitch all of the seams. So, after I had the collar put together, I topstitched around the edge. I hated it. The fabric has a definite texture and the topstitching sunk into it kind of funky looking, like a 5-year old had sewn it. Plus, the brown I used was too dark. Another would be too light. And so I just gave up and ripped it out. Which turned out to be a good thing because I realized as I was sewing the pockets that it would be a nightmare to topstitch down that seam.

Speaking of the pockets … I'm undecided about them. They will, of course, stay in this jacket but I'm thinking I'll eliminate them for the next one. If I put my hands in them, which I'll most definitely do since they're there, I feel like I'm wearing a muff. And it's not like I'm going to store much more than a stick of gum or something in them. But at least these don't detract from the overall look of the jacket.

The sleeves have been giving me the most trouble. And before I realized it, I forgot I was going to evaluate them before committing and I pinked the seam allowances. Sheesh. Can we say dunderheaded mistake? I didn't trim off much, but enough to make it a pain to evaluate my changes against the original seam allowances without really studying things. At least I remembered to not cut out the sleeve cuff until I had the sleeve width finalized. (Why does the brain let you remember some important points and totally space out on others?)

So I've spent the morning trying to get the sleeves right. The shoulder point was too far out and puffed up, making me look like a Working Girl reject. I must've tried 10 different pinnings and bastings and have finally settled on what I think is the best of the bunch. It's not perfect, and I'm still trying to make a decision on whether a very thin shoulder pad is in order or not. (I'm leaning towards adding it.) If I didn't have square shoulders, I wouldn't think twice about a small shoulder pad since they do smooth things out underneath nicely. But do I need even 1/4" more shoulder?? Arghhhhh!

Now I have to transfer those alterations over to the lining sleeves and my pattern. And hopefully continue on to completion without further incident. Yeah. Right.

Photos of the Loot

(Crappy photography in front of spotty mirror with messy background. Could it get any better?)

I want 10 of these dresses. No, 20. At the very least, I want a pattern. I *need* a pattern! Any suggestions? The waist "tie" is really cool. It doesn't actually go around me. There is a sewn-in contrast band at the waist, front and back. The tie is a drape in the front only and it's secured with a belt slider thingie which you can sort of see near the hand that's on my hip. The colors are dark brown and ivory, in case you were wondering about my "I don't wear black" comment from earlier.



I'll also take 10 of these skirts in various colors. I wish. I kept looking inside of it at the store to be sure it wasn't lined. The linen is that substantial and soft. It's been on a rack at the store for who knows how long and then wadded up in a bag as I shopped and this is how it came out of the bag. Not bad at all for a linen skirt that hasn't seen an iron since the factory. Check out the shoes. This is one of the pairs from Zappos that I already showed you.



This is the invisible zipper/pocket/tab combo at the sideseam of the skirt. My stomach skin is the same color as the skirt. LOL!



Shoes bought today. Yes, one more pair of brown. I'm definitely going to have to decide soon.



Side angle.



Purse #1.



Purse #2. I've never had a green purse before but this will look great with everything on my immediate sewing list.



And I want to mention this shirt I bought the other day at Walmart. If I keep it, I'll need to shorten the sleeves and the overall length. But look at the buttons. There's a double set at bust level (behind a hidden button placket). It's supposed to stop the bust gap. It seems to work on me, but either of the buttons is pretty much at my bust level. I just thought it was interesting.

A Day With the Masses

This morning I got my hair cut and then returned home to drag DH to the mall to keep me company. Everyone in the entire Tampa Bay area must've been at this mall today because OMG it was crowded. Of course, I can't remember the last time I went to the mall on a Saturday on purpose so maybe this is normal.

Today's haul:
3 bras
2 pairs of shoes (still thinking about them)
2 purses
1 wrap dress
1 linen tulip skirt
1 resolution to stick to Zappos
1 wish I could sew faster

I started off trying on bras and either I'm starting with the hot flashes or the A/C was turned off in the dressing rooms. I gave up in the middle because I just couldn't deal with trying to wrangle the girls into a multitude of bras while the sweat was starting to roll down my face. Ugh. It was Buy 2 Get 1 Free day in the bra department, so I guessed my best with the same brand I'm wearing now and I'll try them on again later tonight. And, of course, my pretty new styled haircut drooped big time after that fiasco. :-(

Next, it was a look through the dresses at JCP. (I'm kicking myself because I forgot to look for that jacket I still want to make.) Everything was on SALE! and it was a disaster zone, but I managed to find 3 dresses and a similar jacket to try on to at least see how the styles looked on me. I ended up buying the wrap (top only) dress, which I'll have to hem. I liked the jacket but the color was meh so I left it. A quick look through the shoe department and the two pairs that I liked were not available in my size.

Then we left Penneys and wandered through the mall where every store is basically the same and aimed for teens and 20-somethings, so I didn't waste my time in any of them. I did go into Lane Bryant (plus size store for non-US readers) and it was horrible. Absolutely nothing for career wear, nothing in colors I like, and nothing that didn't feel like it would fall apart in a month. I was in and out in 5 minutes. LB just does not sell clothing that is flattering to plus size women. I never find anything in there that I like, so I'm not sure why I keep going in.

After that it was Macy's. More of the same and meager plus size selections. It seemed like everything was black, or red. I don't wear black. Or red. No shoes that I even wanted to try on. They were all strappy, too high a heel, or athletic wear.

More wandering. A trip to the restroom, and then onto Dillard's. Dillard's is my favorite store in the mall. The saleswomen are always nice, helpful, and not *too* in your face, IYKWIM, and the "women's" department has a good selection of clothes for my age group. (Question: Why are plus-sized females "women" and others are "ladies"??) If you knew how much I complain about stores and lack of service in general, you'd understand that when I say Dillard's is good, it must be EXTREMELY good. ;-)

I found a great Kaspar skirt that will become a staple. It's a khaki colored linen trumpet skirt, with a contoured waistband, side zip, side tabs, and pockets. And it fits perfectly. I always find something at Dillard's. I also found 2 purses and 2 pairs of shoes, both on sale. I hate changing purses so to find two that could be actual contenders was a real accomplishment. LOL! I also tried on a pretty green jacket which technically fit, but the bust darts pointed about 1.5 inches below my actual bust, and this was while wearing one of my OLD bras! I can't imagine whose boobs this jacket designed for?? The shoulders fit very well, though, which is usually a problem area for me with RTW. But I'd never be able to see past those darts so it stayed behind.

Then it was out the door and back home. I'll take pics of my loot later, after I've recovered. All in all, it wasn't too painful. But I like my own things better, and I forgot to get pantyhose.

I'm Out of Muslin Again

… so it's a good thing I don't need to sew another one for this jacket.



I'm quite pleased with the muslin. The remaining tweaks I can make on the tissue and won't need another muslin.

As I mentioned, last night I made initial alterations onto the pattern tissue. There are twelve vertical seam allowances on this jacket. That's a lot of opportunities to spread around the additional needed width without changing the look of the jacket.

I started with a straight 18 and left that sizing alone until waist and hip levels, where I added 1/12 of the difference between my actual measurements and the pattern envelope measurements, which was basically just a tapered addition down the seamline. Because most of these pieces adjoin with another, I only had to make the adjustment to one side and then simply trace that (with my rotary cutter) onto the adjoining seam. This literal shortcut not only saved time but it also meant the seams should match perfectly. Which they did. Whew! ;-)

I also used the size 18 sleeve so it would fit right into the armscye, even though I knew it would never fit my arm. Before cutting the muslin, I had added width to the tissue at the center raglan seam and also adjusted for my square shoulders, but I still couldn't get the muslin up my arm comfortably and the armhole was too tight. So I ripped out the sleeve seams (as you can see by my arm in the right of the photo) and sewed shallower seams for the sleeve on your left. I'll note these new seam allowances on the pattern and also cut with a little extra over the bicep so I can adjust in the real fabric if necessary. I've decided to forego the shoulder pads this pattern calls for as my square shoulders in a raglan sleeve already look padded.

The final observation about this muslin is that I did NOT do an FBA. The seaming is a little off from my actual apex (where I've drawn a blue line on the muslin) so I'll move the seam and let it out just a little at bust level because while I don't think I need a full-blown FBA, I do need a smidge more width across the bust.

These are the intended fabrics for the next outfit:



The jacket will be from the taupey-brown fabric on top, a skirt will be made from the paisley print, and a tee-type top from the lime slinky (I'm thinking the gathered neck BWOF tee). The skirt fabric matches both jacket fabrics, and I also plan to make a skirt from the slinky for a 2-piece dress which will then go with other fabrics I have planned for more pieces. So, in a way, I'm doing a SWAP, but only because I tend to buy in color families anyway.

But if I get all these pieces done by next weekend as I'm planning, I'll also have a mini-wardrobe I can enter in the PR Contest since I didn't cut the real Jalie top until yesterday morning (May 1, the contest start date). I had originally planned to enter with casual summer pieces, so it will be a nice bonus to be able to enter the contest from a completely different angle since I thought I'd have to drop out before ever starting.

Now off to get ready to cut real fabric. And then a trip to Joann's tonight is in order because I really am out of muslin now.

Keepin' On With the Wardrobe

Thanks everyone for the nice comments about the Jalie top. I love the fabric and the loose cotton weave will be very comfortable in the Florida heat and humidity.

Someone recently asked in a comment: Since offices are air-conditioned, why is the heat still a factor? Well, until you've been here in the summer, you just don't know. As soon as you step outside for any length of time, even 2 minutes, the heat/humidity gets you, and gets you BAD! I'd rather not start my day in the car sopping wet with sweat until the A/C cools down, if I can help it. But sometimes it's so humid, you just can't help it. I'm also hoping that we can conserve on gas and that DH and I can carpool in the mornings and then I'll take public transport home, so that's more outside time. And I'm sure I'll also head outside some days during lunch. On summer days, I'd rather not be clad in polyester from head to toe.

Today I'll cut a muslin for the PR jacket. I made initial pattern alterations last night. This jacket is supposed to be lined, but in the interest of time and heat (see above), I'm thinking of omitting the lining and some of the interfacing. No firm decisions yet, though. I'll see how the muslin looks before I decide if this jacket should be more structured with that extra tailoring.



Over the weekend, I hope to make good progress on the jacket and also head to mall to find a couple of new bras, some pantyhose, and do some more shoe shopping. I'm also going to look for some clothes since I'm just not sewing fast enough. I have a Wednesday hair appointment and I'll give myself all of next week to continue sewing what I can. After that, I'll be ready to submit my resume and begin interviewing. I haven't wanted to start the process yet because I haven't had the wardrobe for more than one day of interviews and/or actual job. And you know how Murphy's Law works.

May Day! May Day!

Sorry. I couldn't resist using this title for today's post. Nothing's on fire or anything. ;-)

The Jalie top is done. It's not perfect, but done is what matters right now. I'll tweak again on the next version and then it will be perfect. But this one is pretty good.



I used the pattern pieces from yesterday's Muslin #2. I shortened the bolero piece two sizes at the shoulder end, shortened the back shoulder one size, scooped the back neckline about two sizes's worth of depth, raised the neckline about an inch in the middle, and narrowed the shoulders about three or four sizes. The shoulders are still a bit too wide and the armhole needs to come up some more. But I'm not unhappy with it at all. Besides, it will be worn under a jacket anyway so none of that will show until I remove the jacket.

(Regarding the comments yesterday about cleavage in the workplace. If someone else wants to bare it, that's their thing. And I have seen plenty of what some people think is office wear these days. But for me, I don't care what's in or out. I'm just not going to be wearing tops that show more than I want to show.)

The fabric is an ivory cotton summer weight sweater knit. (Say that 3 times fast!) I like the texture it adds to the outfit. That is, the 6 inches of it that shows. ;-)



Here's the outfit so far. Still no buttons on the jacket. I'm thinking of just 2 buttons — at the top — so when I button it, the jacket stays semi-swung open, with a diagonal line and the Jalie top showing at the bottom. (Like it looks here.) If there are only 2 buttons and 2 buttonholes, no one will think anything of it since they'll assume it was bought that way. I'm not asking for opinions on this, BTW, so don't try to change my mind. ;-)



I've cut out the pattern pieces for Simp 2897, the new plus size jacket in the Project Runway line. I'm hoping to get the alterations started after dinner, and around Survivor and Grey's Anatomy. DS#2 doesn't have school tomorrow so I can stay up late and sleep in. (Won't get to do that much once I start working.)

Second Jalie 2794 Trial

This is the first trial from this morning with the blend of sizes. Keep in mind that the bust gathers aren't spread out as wide as they should be and the binding in that area isn't sewn down which is why it's flipping up. Overall, not terrible. It's a bit tight in this almost unstretchy knit, but I was expecting that; my intended fabric has much more give and less recovery.



This is a straight EE, except that I did alter for square shoulders on this one. And then promptly pinned it out for the photos, which is why you see pleats on my shoulders.



The neckline is way too low, exposing cleavage not appropriate for an office setting. And this is without the center front shirring. Also, like the first trial, the back neck is much too high.



The shoulder/upper chest is also too wide (and boy do I have a redneck tan!). I've pinned out some width at the armscye. I think the armhole is also a little too low.



You can't tell that there is any easing from the center front piece onto the "bolero yoke" piece. That's because there isn't much at all in this size. Odd. I see a little dart trying to form from the armhole. I don't feel like doing an FBA on this pattern. After all, it's not a fitted blouse and I'm tired of muslins for today.

Somewhere between these two trials is the answer and now I need to decide which one to work with. I think if I can get the bolero yoke sized correctly, the rest will fall into place. Except the neckline will probably still need to be raised.

First Go at Jalie 2794

This is a horrible poly knit that has almost no stretch, especially since I cut it on the cross-grain to keep the striping vertical on the slim chance that this might be wearable for someone. It's technically wearable for me, but there are a few issues aside from the icky fabric so this one will go to the donation pile.

I blended between sizes as I traced the pattern, which was a bit hard to judge given the odd shapes of the pattern pieces. But I used my TNT Ottobre tee as a basis to make some sizing judgments and it was definitely looking like I should blend. I'm still really curious, though, about how a non-blended size would work on me since the larger sizes seem so incredible LONG compared to the others. I have more of this fabric to use up so I might just do an experiement. There are not too many pieces to trace and the sewing goes fairly quickly.

As for the blending … The shoulder width and armhole height is a Z, blended into the EE for body width. The overall length of the top is Z. The separate "bolero" piece is a blend between Z and EE. The sleeve is FF and fit perfectly into my blended armhole, although the overarm length of the cap sleeve is too short for my arms.

The fit is mostly OK. It's a little snug, but I expected that because of the fabric choice. The gathering at the bust needs to be spread out more. I used the marks on the pattern pieces but with my blend between sizes, I should've adjusted the spacing of those marks too. I need to put it on again and decide if the bolero pieces need adjustment. They feel weird but a lot of that is because they are just a weird piece that I'm not used to.

The shoulder width on me is pretty good, although it looks wonky on Zillie. That's just a combination of the fabric and my haphazard arrangment on Zillie. Poor Zillie. She wears mostly ugly versions of my clothes. ;-) I didn't adjust for my square shoulders, but that's because I was unsure as I was tracing which end was going to be up on that bolero piece. Now that I know, I'll do the adjustment.

The back neck sits waaaaaaay to high for me. I'm going to scoop that out.



As other reviewers have mentioned, the length of the binding pieces seems to be off. The front binding piece is definitely too long. The back was too, for me, but I didn't pin/mark or anything. I just started at one end and stretched it a little as I applied it. (Oh, and Belinda, you could definitely use a CS binder with this top. But as you mentioned on the PR boards, you'd have to add onto the pattern's edges to make up for lost width of the Jalie binding so it's just as quick to do it the "old-fashioned" way.)

The one puzzling thing about the long binding piece was that it wasn't clear how long to cut it. The pattern has a "Cut on Fold" mark but it's in the middle of the strip, not on one end. (Did that confuse anyone else who's made this?) I guessed and cut it NOT on the fold. I got it wrong and my first strip was only half as long as it should've been. Oops.

I'm going to go back to the sewing room now, fiddle with this top some more and decide how I'm going to proceed.

A Couple More Thoughts on the Dress

I agree with everyone who said that the full gathers aren't the best look for a full bust. But I am still going to make the dress when I decide on a fabric. I might even use a knit since then I wouldn't need as big an FBA and it would be nice and drapey. But anyway ... I know, I know. ;-) That's one of the reasons for the muslin — to see how to adapt the pattern to not only fit my body but to *flatter* it too. I'd never wear this style dress on its own because I need some waist definition. But the right outer layer will do that. A short-sleeved summer sweater or a less structured jacket would work.

Other progress today: I started and finished the skirt (KS 3287). Praise be for TNTs! ;-) I lengthened it 2" and it's going to be great with the jacket. And the shoes. ;-) Let me say again how much I love the 1/4" downturn feller on my coverstitch machine. The poly fabric zipped right through for a narrow hem with not even so much as one slippery whimper.

Speaking of the jacket … a little more progress on getting it done. After sewing in and ripping out the (very thin) shoulder pads 3 times because I couldn't decide whether I wanted them or not, I ripped them out for good. The jacket isn't really drafted for shoulder pads and I didn't make an allowance for them. While they technically fit in because they're thin, I just didn't like the bulk. After that, I serged the armhole seam allowances which means my decision (and the lining) is final and there's no going back. LOL! Now if I could only motivate myself to do the buttonholes and get this thing finished. I'm still mulling over whether I want 2, 3, or 4 buttons. Why are all these decisions so paralyzing?

Then I traced Jalie 2794, the knit sweetheart neckline top. I'm going to try it in a summer sweater knit (without the front shirring) to complete the skirt/jacket outfit. But I'll do a quick test in an icky knit first. Hopefully, I'll get to that after dinner. It's nice to finally see a whole outfit coming together. You'll get to see it when it's complete.

Back Burner

This dress is on hold for the moment. I finished the pattern alterations and made a muslin yesterday (two actually) and I think the fit/style is OK. But there are other problems. First, I'm going to want to make the dress longer than the pattern's length and the layout will now exceed my 2 yds of fabric (by only about 6 inches!), and second, I'm not thrilled with how it looks under the brown jacket. With the gathers under the yoke, I think it's too puffy for this fitted jacket. I'm also thinking of rotating some of the bust dart *back* to the side and just sewing a dart so that there's not quite so much gathering. In muslin, it looks like a nightgown, doesn't it? ;-)



So, I'm moving on to Plan B and making a skirt from the lining leftovers from one of my TNT Kwik Sew skirt patterns. I think. I also have another untried skirt pattern that's a good candidate.

I'll return to the dress with another fabric, after a look through the stash or some shopping if the stash is uncooperative.

New Patterns & Answers to Comments

The results of my "spree" at Joann's on Friday night:

Simp 3506 - Looks like a fast & comfortable dress and top to whip up. The jacket is too shapeless for me though. The pants will never fit in the size range I bought.

Simp 2923 - Princess lines and raglan sleeves. I like the combination.



Simp 4045 - This is the jacket (brown, bottom left) that I'm thinking of morphing into that JCP inspiration jacket, although it won't be an exact morph since this doesn't have raglan sleeves. I'm thinking more "essence of inspiration." I'll have to create a separate neck yoke since what you see on the jacket is just topstitching. I'll never make the skirts because they are too full for me, but the dress and top are cute. But that dress doen't fit the model very well, does it?



Simp 3631 - Or I could use this one that was recommended by Belinda and Carolyn. I do have the issue of Sew Stylish that shows narrowing the sleeve so I should be all set, right? ;-)



Simp 3678 - Likely that I'll never make this but you never know. I like all of the dresses and think the sleeveless jumper would be especially cute under a jacket.



New Look 6632 - I thought the angle of the jacket would be a flattering diagonal line for me. Sort of trendy but at the same time, not. I'd make the shorter version, but a bit longer than shown. If I make it at all.



New Look 6788 - I like the dress. The square neckline of the jacket might be a bit too fuddy-duddy. I bought this and then saw Carolyn's dress and was doubly inspired. Of course if I made this dress, I'd have to wear a jacket and never take it off. If Joann's had had two coordinating linen/blends, they would've come home with me too. But Joann's usually disappoints and was no exception that night.



And two which aren't on the website yet:

Simp 2899 - Another raglan sleeve/princess seams combination. I'm definitely making the jacket on the left. But I wouldn't wear it buttoned all the way up, if at all.



Simp 2896 - The dress I'm currently in the process of altering to use with the leftover lining fabric. The blouse is very much like my recent coral blouse but with a little bit lower neckline. I'll definitely morph them as that coral blouse is my newest favorite and I'm going to wear it out soon if I don't have another. If I have enough fabric, I might add sleeves to the dress so I have the option of taking off the jacket. (Sleeveless and me in an office don't mix.)





* * * * *

Answers to some comments:

Carolyn asked, "Are you going to make a few other pieces - skirt, pants another top so that you can mix and match all of the pieces for interviews?"

I'm definitely making more pieces. Whether they all mix and match, probably not. I tend to sew as "outfits" and not a SWAP. And I'll be filling in with RTW because there's no way I can sew an entire office wardrobe in a matter of weeks. And, yes, I already thought about the 2nd interview scenario. ;-)

Nancy K asked, (About buttons) "There are some good places online. Have you tried any?"

I haven't yet. The problem is I don't *know* I need buttons until I know what the fabric will be and I'm well into the project and then I'm too impatient. I have a hard time picking out buttons for garments which don't yet exist. Not a problem with fabric, just with buttons. Which is why I don't have a good button stash.

CandyO asked, "This is your first lined jacket? Wow. That makes me feel a little better about my own abilities, since I just assumed you were awesome at all things sewing. ... Is that the McCall's Nanette Lepore knockoff?"

You're funny! I am most definitely NOT "awesome at all things sewing." Yes, this is my first lined jacket. And even with this, I haven't lined the sleeves so I still have that hump to jump at some later point. There just hasn't been much need for a lined jacket in my SAHM world. I know there's plenty of other sewing related things/skills I haven't done/mastered yet. That's one of the things I love/hate about sewing ... so much to learn and stay challenged, so much to screw up on. LOL!

And sort of. The jacket is actually KS 3368, with the waistbands and sleeves inspired by that McCall's pattern.

Myrna asked, "I know who Belinda is but who is Carolyn? Does she have a blog I'd like to read."

Carolyn is DiaryofASewingFanatic. I bet you already follow her blog and didn't realize they were one and the same.

Too Many Learning Experiences

Here's the jacket as of now. The only thing left to do is buttonholes & buttons and to attach the lining at the armholes. The fabric you see underneath is the lining and will also be a dress. The camera/light isn't cooperating so the colors are off. But then nothing seemed to be cooperating with this jacket so I'm not surprised.

Here's the back view.



And this is the lining. The colors are more accurate in this photo but the browns do match in real life.



This is what the jacket looked like last night. At first glance you might not notice what is actually a glaring mistake. Look at the belt bands at the waist. They are not level. By a lot! I didn't notice this until I saw this photo. At that point, I was hoping the jacket was just sitting lopsided on Zillie. It wasn't. Arghhh. I had measured carefully and even used white thread to mark each location. But obviously I messed up somewhere.



This revelation came upon the heels of fighting for over two hours with the place where the lining joins the facing. I was sewing this spot all by machine (as per Jackets for Real People) so the join would be neat. It's actually a pretty good method but since this is my first lined jacket, I had to experiment and learn as I went. But I wasn't learning fast enough for my own satisfaction. LOL! It would've been faster to sew by hand but I'm stubborn (and severely opposed to my own handsewing!).



(The extra seam you see is the princess seam from the front. Next time I'll redraw the facing to space that out more. I think it looks weird and it made it harder to get the lining/facing seams aligned correctly.)

So, back to the waistbands. As you can see, they are sewn into the princess seams and stitched down to the jacket body. The princess seam allowances were also trimmed and edgestitched. And the lining was attached at that point, although not yet at the armholes, thankfully, which saved me even more frustration. I had to rip out the band and one section of an edgestitched princess seam before I could reposition the band. And then I had to fidget with the lining underneath while sewing so I didn't catch it while re-stitching the band back on. Stupid mistake. Repeat after me: Measure twice, sew once. Measure twice, sew once. ;-)

My last frustration yesterday was that the lining kept falling out at the back of the jacket so it could be seen, even though I had anchored it at all the seams. I tried handsewing (yes!) it down but an inch of that told me it wasn't going to be invisible. This fabric does not hide stitches even a little bit. At which point, I threw my hands in the air and ended up anchoring the jacket hem from the inside with a fusible.

Thankfully Belinda was near her computer as I was cursing this jacket and lent me a shoulder to whimper on, gave me a great pep talk and good advice. Of course, if she were actually here instead of virtually so, she would've shown me step-by-step and I wouldn't have made any mistakes. LOL! But with all these "learning experiences" I created for myself, I'm actually feeling a lot more confident for my next lined jacket. In 10 years. ;-)

Now for buttons. This is what I bought. The pickin's at Joann's are slim and this is what I thought were the best of the bunch. The buttons on the left have a slight bronze metallic sheen to them. The buttons on the right are "coconut" and are more speckled. I'm leaning toward the buttons on the left. Opinions?



We're off to the dog park. After that, I'm hoping to start working on a dress pattern, leaving the jacket buttons for tomorrow when I don't hate the jacket so much. ;-)

I Got Nothing

Did I sew yesterday? Is the lining in? Um … about 2 seams, and no. It just turned into a day of errands and then DS#1 wanted to take me and his brother out for a late lunch so how could I refuse that? My last errand of the evening was to Joann's to grab that Simplicity 3631 pattern while it was on sale (and, ahem, 9 others), some thread, and to look at buttons. I'll be soliciting button opinions a little later.

I'm quite happy with some of my new patterns (I'll list them later) — at least in theory right now. We'll see how they work with my actual and not theoretical body. I was pleasantly surprised to see lots in the new counter book that aren't on the website yet and I bought a few of them. I have to say that going back to work is going to be very bad for my stash. I'm looking at a whole new world of fabric and patterns. Things that never even caught my eye before. Uh oh.

Oh, and speaking of the pattern counter books … I was so frustrated with them last night since I'm used to looking at patterns on the internet. The books really should show front and back line drawings on the pattern page, as well as fabric requirements (knit vs. woven) and even maybe yardage. What a pain to have to pull a pattern and then open the info sheet just to see the line drawings because even the envelopes sometimes don't have clear representations of both front and back views.

And finally an observation about the Project Runway line. I *hate* the way they're doing yardage requirements and not labeling the different views A, B, C, etc. First, the yardage requirements have you add up X for this bodice plus Y for that sleeve plus Z for this collar. And they do not add up correctly. I *know* that a simple dress won't take 3 yds of fabric. Sheesh. But would someone else who is new to sewing? Or will they end up with way more fabric and cash outlay than necessary? I say no, and yes.

But it's the lack of labels for the different options that made me the craziest. I like to look at the drawings for the pattern pieces and match them up to the different views. You know, the list under the pattern drawings that shows piece #12 is View A sleeve. That sort of thing. Except with these PR patterns, it's piece #12 is for "bodice with round collar and two buttons." Arghhh. I have to then study the line drawings to figure out which one actually IS the one that has a bodice with a round collar and two buttons. And then I have to do it *each time* because there's no way my brain remembers such a description for each and every view when I'm flipping back and forth between line drawings and pattern pieces. It reminded of the puzzles in Highlights magazine from the dentist office waiting rooms of my childhood — Which One Of These Is Different? That was my favorite feature in the magazine. On a pattern sheet, not so much.

I understand the general concept of what Simplicity is doing with the PR patterns. They want the sewer to feel more free to make choices, to *not* be stuck in a box thinking they have to make View A and cannot interchange the sleeves for View B. I think that's a good thing. But I know there's got to be a better way to do that.

Today I will finish the jacket while I dream of using one of my new patterns. I just have to decide which one.

Finally Some Progress

The jacket is coming along, although it looks like a mess in this pic. Look at that stray thread front and center — how did I not see that? And it's kinda just flung on Zillie for a quick photo session so it's hanging rather lopsided. Oh well. You can get the general idea. The fabric is brown RPL, some good stuff from Emma One Sock that had been aging in the stash for a while.

The side belt pieces are hanging down because I haven't yet attached the back belt piece to them. I played with the placement of the belt on my muslin and decided to put it a bit lower than the McCall's pattern shows because I think it's more flattering to me from the rear view. A higher belt makes me look short-waisted and all derrière. Well, more so than I actually am.

Tomorrow the lining goes in. I've decided not to line the sleeves, for a couple of reasons. First, I think it will be too hot. If the sleeves are unlined, at least they will breathe a bit even if the rest of the jacket doesn't. Second, I have exactly 2 yards left of the lining fabric if I don't cut sleeves, which means I can use it for a skirt or dress or something else that will go with this jacket. If I cut sleeves, I will essentially be left with a really big scrap. So I'll be lining just the jacket body and then overlocking the armsyce seam allowances. Sure, I could bind them and it would look pretty but I need to get this done and move on. I'll save the couture-type elements for another project.

Thanks for all the opinions about pantyhose. I think I'm in the majority with my thinking that they should be worn with pumps. Now to find a brand/size that I can live with. I seriously have not bought pantyhose in at least 10 years so I'm sure the options have changed.

A few of you asked where I bought the shoes. They are both from Zappos, and were under $70 per pair, which I thought was pretty reasonable. While I absolutely love how both of them look, I'm undecided about how they feel. I need to put them on and walk around the house for a while, but I can't sew with heels so I haven't done that yet.